Random Truths About… Anna-Lynne Williams of Trespassers William

1. What’s the first piece of music you listened to today?
Some Joanna
Newsom bootleg performances of new material.

2. What are your vices?
Thinking too much about food, emotional outbursts, anxiety.

3. What is one of your prejudices?
I don’t like people whose tastes are too “cool”–about
clothes, music, or anything. If you can be so passionate about something
that you’re a nerd, then that is infectious. But if you like
something just to the point of excluding others, then you suck.

4. In what way do you think music has the ability to change
the way people live their lives?
I think people need to hear their feelings and beliefs voiced. And
where that so often fails in other arenas, it succeeds uncannily
in music. Growing up, I never had a need to wish someone else felt
like I did (“if only there was a song about….”). There
always was one. Music validates you, and it also leads you to other
people like you. I met most of my friends through shared musical
interests, even before I wrote my own music.

5. At what age did you first feel distrust?
One summer, when I was probably about 8. My little sister and I
would swim and play in our undies on hot days. My parents would
sometimes have their friends over, and one night they were all sitting
around this conversation pit/rock formation we had in the backyard.
At bedtime, we were supposed to ceremoniously kiss everyone good-night
on their cheek. I had an Adam & Eve moment that I still remember
clearly; I told my sister we had to fold our arms over our bare
chests before we made the rounds that night, that it was not appropriate
to be nude and kissing these semi-strangers. I think that was the
beginning of distrust and a bunch of other adult feelings.

6. Do you think that your name is appropriate for you?
(If not, what name would be more appropriate?)
I am still not used to my name. I ask people to say it to me because
it is a word rarely spoken. I think it intimidates or confuses people
so they always shorten it. Anna-Lynne is not part of the world’s
vocabulary.

7. What is the best piece of music you’ve ever created,
in your opinion?
I felt very certain about “Low Point” and “My
Hands Up” after I wrote them, which only makes them trickier
to perform or record, but writing those two songs was very satisfying.

8. Right now, how are you trying to change yourself?
I want to be dedicated enough to make long written works. With poems
and songs, you create the beginning and the end, and then you fill
in the middle. A novel is all about the middle. I need to learn
more about the middle.

9. If you had the time, what else would you do?
Become a great cook. And I do have time, so I should.

10. What social cause do you feel the most strongly about
(negative or positive)?
Vegetarianism. It’s plain and simple and I don’t think
people do it to look charitable or cool. It’s something that
comes from love.

11. What are your fears?
Going to bed after watching a scary movie alone. Singing out of
pitch and not knowing it. Getting old.

12. What is your favorite joke (tasteful or tasteless)?
There must be a cute one about a baby tomato or something, but all
I can think of are the naughty ones about penises and child molesters.
Jokes are pretty evil.

13. Who is your favorite author?
Proust, but it’s only setting yourself up for disappointment
if your favorite author is dead and they only wrote one book that
you already read. I’ve read more Murakami than any other author
in the last year, a quick and fun body of work.